Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until September 2021.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “As Covid-19 Closes Schools, the World’s Children Go to Work” by Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj
School closures and economic pressures caused by the coronavirus have thrust children into the role of breadwinner across the developing world. In India, children as young as 6 pick through trash in search of recyclables. In Kenya, 10-year-olds mine sand.
United Nations officials estimate that at least 24 million children will drop out of school worldwide as a consequence of the pandemic and that millions could end up working. The surge in child labor could roll back recent progress in school enrollment, literacy, social mobility and children’s health.
In this lesson, you will learn about the growing child labor crisis around the world and consider ways you can inform others.
Warm Up
What do you know about child labor? What would you do if you had to leave school and go to work? How would it affect your life — physically, socially and emotionally?
Take five minutes to scroll through and look closely at the photos in the featured article. Then respond to these questions:
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What do you notice?
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What do you wonder?
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What emotions do you feel?
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What story do the photos tell?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, then answer the following questions:
1. The article begins, “Every morning in front of the Devaraj Urs public housing apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city of Tumakuru, a swarm of children pours into the street.” How do the authors make the story of child labor vivid and real for readers? Which words, images and details in the opening paragraphs are most effective and evocative?
2. How has the coronavirus pandemic led to a surge in child labor across the globe? Give three reasons from the article.
3. What kinds of work have children been pushed to do during the pandemic? How has having to work affected their lives — physically, socially and emotionally? Give two examples from the article.
4. How might the rise in child labor threaten decades of economic and social progress in developing countries, according to the article?
5. Why is the rise of child labor particularly large in India? How has the coronavirus affected the country? Why have protections against child labor been ineffective in stopping the recent surge?
6. What is your reaction to the article? What did you find most memorable, surprising or affecting? What do you think should be done to help address the growing problem of child labor in the world?
Going Further
Option 1: Empathize
Choose one or both of the following writing prompts.
1) The article features many children whose lives have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, such as Surlina, 14, who paints herself silver to resemble a statue, or Rahul, 11, who scavenges with his father. Which young person’s story did you find most interesting, memorable or moving?
Select one child laborer featured in the article and write about how you connect with his or her story. How do they illustrate the challenges and courage of young people during the pandemic? What can we learn from their experiences?
2) Look at the photos featured in the article once more: Does one stand out? Which one do you find most powerful or affecting?
Choose one image and write about how it illustrates the impact of the coronavirus on children around the world. Use the questions from the warm-up activity to guide your writing:
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What do you notice?
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What do you wonder?
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What emotions do you feel?
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What story does it tell?
Option 2: Research
What questions do you still have about the issues raised in the article? You might start by looking at The Times’s topic pages for the coronavirus or world news or these recent articles:
For resources beyond The Times, you might also look at the websites of these organizations:
Use these questions to guide your research:
1. How is the pandemic affecting countries across the world? Specifically, how is it affecting educational opportunities, poverty and hunger?
2. What are the causes of child labor throughout the world?
3. What are countries doing to address the problem?
4. How can the international community help?
Option 3: Inform
How can you inform others about what you learned from the article? Here are several creative projects you might complete, with the goal of spreading awareness about the global child labor crisis:
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You might use the statistics from the featured article or from your own research to create a “by the numbers” infographic to show the scale and impact of the world’s child labor crisis. For example, you might include the number of children forced from school by the pandemic or the number of child laborers around the world. You don’t need to include every statistic, just those you think are most important.
You can design your work on paper or consider using a free program like Canva or Venngage to produce your designs. Use open-source images or create graphics that help get your point across. Be sure to cite all the sources you use.
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Or you can create a public service announcement using photographs from this article, or from your own research, along with text, statistics and music. You might consider storyboarding your public service announcement, and if you have time, record, edit and share it with your class and your school. Scholastic provides some useful tips and a sample P.S.A. storyboard.
With either project, be sure to consider the following questions: Who would be your target audience — parents, teenagers, politicians or the general public? What message do you want to convey? What actions would you want your audience to take? What kind of language, images and graphics will grab their attention?
If you want to take this activity a step further, post your infographic or public service announcement to Instagram or whatever social media you use, and see what kind of response you get. Then reflect on the experience and share what you discovered with your classmates.
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October 02, 2020 at 02:09PM
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